Producers Guild Studies 'Anatomy'

While the writers' strike has dominated the show-business news of late, it's also fast coming up on awards season: The Producers Guild of America announced its TV series nominees this week.

ABC and HBO are the leading nominees, with four shows apiece in the comedy, drama, nonfiction and live entertainment/competition categories. NBC has three shows nominated, while FOX, CBS, Bravo and Discovery each have two.

All four of the 2007 winners -- comedy "The Office," drama "Grey's Anatomy," non-fiction show "60 Minutes" and "Real Time with Bill Maher," which was in a variety-show category last year -- are up for the '08 awards as well. The guild has tweaked the non-scripted categories some, grouping shows like "American Idol" and "Project Runway" in with Maher's show and "The Colbert Report," while the nonfiction category now includes non-competition reality shows like "Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List."

The Producers Guild will announce its nominees for feature films and long-form television in January. The awards are scheduled for Feb. 2.

(We should note here that the Producers Guild, a professional association of working producers, is not the group on the opposite side of the Writers Guild of America strike. That would be the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which represents the big media companies at the bargaining table.)